Drummers and percussionists of play a variety of different instruments. A drummer playing a drum set may sit or stand behind a single drum, cymbal, or percussion instrument, or behind an array of one or more snare drums, tom toms, bass drums, cymbals, including hi-hat cymbals, and other percussion instruments. Percussionists may sit or stand behind a single percussion instrument, or behind an array of one or more percussion instruments, including drums including bongos, congas, or timbales, or cowbells, agogô bells, gongs, cajones, or many other instruments.
Some of the musical instruments described require implements or tools to maintain, clean or tune them. One example is a drum tuning key, or drum key, which is typically configured to adjust the tightness of a drum head against a drum shell, often by adjusting the distance between a drum rim (or hoop) and the drum shell. Some drums include several tension rods (also called, tuning rods, tuning bolts, or tension screws) which insert through holes in the drum rim and have a threaded end and an opposing head. The opposing head has a diameter larger than the hole in the drum rim and/or it includes a washer that has a diameter larger than the hole in the drum rim, so that the threaded end of the tension rod can be threadingly engaged with an inner thread of a tension casing (sometimes called lugs) and the head of the tension rod can be turned (e.g., by engaging a drum tuning key), thus moving the rim closer to the drum shell, thereby tightening the drum head. Drums may have three or more tension rod/tension casing combinations. Some tension casings are configured to couple to a single drum head and some tension casings are configured to couple to two drum heads, such as a top drum head and a bottom drum head. Each drum head may be tightened (or loosened) using the drum tuning key in order to adjust the pitch of the drum, or to equilibrate the tightness in the drum head among each of several tension rod locations. The adjustment in the tightness of the drum head (and thus its resonant frequency) may also be done to minimize (or in some cases even maximize) the amount “buzz,” “rattle,” or noise that other sounds of varying frequencies may cause in the drum head. Each drum may have three or more locations around the perimeter of the rim/drum head wherein the adjustment occurs. Often a drum has between about five and eighteen tension rods per drum head or between about eight and ten. Each tension rod may be adjusted individually, often in a star pattern. Other products have been proposed or developed to turn all tuning rods simultaneously, but these products are expensive, bulky, and have not been shown to be reliable, for example, at achieving a reliable equilibrium of pitch around the circumference of the drum head.
A drummer or percussionist may need to quickly tune or retune drums at any time, for example, at various times during a recording session or during a performance. The small size of most drum tuning keys makes them prone to being lost or misplaced if placed around a few or several drums or percussion instruments. Not only do the instruments have additional bulk due to hardware and stands, but often in recording or performance situations, there are also a number of microphones, microphone stands and electrical wires. Some drummers or percussionists leave a drum tuning key engaged with a tuning rod while playing. A tuning key on a mostly horizontal drum, such as a floor tom, may be used, and a relatively remote location, such as a tuning rod on the far side of the drum, may be chosen, to lessen the likelihood that the drum tuning key will be hit and potentially displaced by a drumstick while the drummer or percussionist is playing. However, often, the vibration of the drum alone is enough to cause the drum tuning key to fall off of its position on the turning rod. Furthermore, even if the drum tuning key does not fall off, its typically loose or slightly loose engagement with the tuning rod commonly makes an undesired rattling noise which is not only perceivable in well-miked studio or performance venue environments, but is also perceivable by a player playing on an unmiked drum, for example at a casual setting (e.g., home).